We’ve been writing about Pussy Riot since 2012, mostly because we’re interested in the human rights aspect... and also as fans of the riot grrrl/DIY punk genre. After being sent to prison for two years for hard labor, Pussy Riot’s founder, Nadezhda, or Nadya/Nadia for short, continues her work under the Pussy Riot name.

Expect an unforgettable guerrilla-style performance art and DIY punk energy. It will be an anti-Putin, anti-Trump (which Pussy Riot pessimistically predicted would be President in their song “Make America Great Again” in October 2016) kind of show. Pussy hats welcomed.

This 21+ show is sold out... which I knew it would, considering the massive media interest in the band, and wish they had booked a bigger venue.

Celebrate St Patrick’s Day with traditional Irish band Lúnasa (featuring bassist Trevor Hutchinson of The Waterboys on bass). You can buy a copy of their new album Cas at this upcoming all ages, seated show.

Nada Surf, the “Popular” band, will be back in town at the Fine Line Music Café on Wednesday, March 14th, as part of bringing awareness of their recent charity album called Standing At The Gates: The Songs of Nada Surf's Let Go (featuring different artists covering Nada Surf songs from their album Let Go).

Missed Philadelphia's Days Away since they broke up in 2008? If you were a fan, you'd likely have kept up with Good Old War, featuring Keith Goodwin and Tim Arnold
...

One thing is for sure, Nada Surf loves playing live, and it shows on their nearly 2 hours plus set, complete with a double encore, at last Friday’s show at the Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis.

Good Old War

Opening up the show was Good Old War - named after its founding members: Keith Goodwin, Tim Arnold and Dan Schwartz... unfortunately, as we’ve previously mentioned, their drummer Arnold hasn’t been with the band for a while.

Their set was similar to their previously appearance with Kodaline in Oct 2015, like teasing us with a snippet of Montell Jordan’s ‘This Is How We Do It’ after ‘Window’ (they did that tease on ‘Better Weather’ previously).

The Friday night show was somewhat special, as it was Dan Schwartz’s birthday, which Keith Goodwin was more than happy to sing the traditional birthday song to him right after playing ‘Coney Island’... later in their set, someone in the audience called out ‘Jon Snow’, referring to Schwartz’s raven black hair and good looks. Schwartz responded, “I’ll take it!” while Goodwin jokingly said, “Chill out, don’t spoil that stuff for people!”

The band will go on tour with Detroit trio Empty Houses this June 2016. Check your local calendar and listing.

Nada Surf

Nada Surf, on their second night of their comeback You Know Who You Are tour was determined to give us their best performance of their lives. They wanted to that in Chicago, the previous night, but due to the venue’s restrictive curfew, their set was cut short. Minneapolis’ Fine Line Music Café did not have any curfew, so the band played for about two hours - doing the obligated ‘new album’ music and saving all their ‘popular’ songs (including ‘Popular’) for the encore.

You have to remember that the band hasn’t done a major tour since The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy in 2012, which we saw at First Avenue. It was a large turnout then, and it was a large turnout on Friday night.

If you’re wondering why the band took so long to get back in the saddle, I know some of the band members had personal side project, including singer Matthew Caws, who had to take out a few years to devote to his side project Minor Alps with Juliana Hatfield (who we saw in 2013).

Setlist

The show started off with ‘Cold To See Clear’, which is also the first song on the new You Know Who You Are album. Throughout their set, as seasoned professionals, they put in new songs between old favorites. This is how to ease fans to the new material.

For ‘Inside of Love’, Caws asked the entire audience to do a two-step dance, because it’s cool to see everyone doing it at the same time. It’s the feeling of awe when he first saw George Carlin asking the crowd to do whatever he wanted... as the comic once joked, “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”

Of course, the real treat was the encore... or rather encores! Starting with ‘Hyperspace’, followed by their big hit ‘Popular’ and ‘Always Love’ (which had the whole audience singing along), and ‘Blankest Year’ (from 2005’s The Weight Is a Gift).

The lights turned on, the house music came on, indicating that the show was over... People started leaving the venue. After a few minutes, fans who were still around got another treat: the entire band came back on and played ‘Blizzard of ‘77’ with a pair of acoustic guitars. It was unforgettable, the way the crowd was also singing back the lyrics, ever so quietly, as to not upstage the band on stage (who were singing off mic).

Nada Surf’s You Know Who You Are is available now on Barsuk Records. Their world tour continues:

Remember soul artist Allen Stone? We previously caught him in New York (October 2014) and wrote, “Throughout Stone’s set, he had much advice to give and anecdotes like officiating his bassist, Brent Rusinow, and his wife’s wedding. Halfway through his set, Stone announced that he was now an ordained minister, which “only took me ten minutes online” to do, and had been asked by a Rusinow to officiate his marriage. (Perhaps, dear fan, this means Stone can not only sing at your wedding, but also legally marry you and your significant other, or even do both at the same time!)”

Stone will be back in Minneapolis (he was previously in town last November 2015), touring in support of Radius (Deluxe Edition) (ATO Records). The record was made in close collaboration with Swedish soul singer/songwriter/phenom Magnus Tingsek and producers Benny Cassette (Kanye West) and Malay (Frank Ocean).

Special guests Jared & The Mill to open. We previously caught Jared & the Mill in June 2015 and noted that they have a large fanbase in Minneapolis.

I’ll never forget seeing Emblem3 in November 2013 when they exploded out of custom crates.

The American reggae/pop trio (brothers Wesley and Keaton Stromberg, and Drew Chadwick) will be headlining the Varsity Theater next Wednesday, May 11th, in support of their 2016 EP Waking Up.

Before You Exit and The Ready Set to open.
You might remember we caught BYE with The Vamps last August 2015 and wrote, “According to the brothers, it was clear that Wednesday's show was "best show on the tour so far!" This must be in response to hearing their fans singing back some of their songs, including their new single "Model" and an Ed Sheeran cover "Thinking Out Loud".”

Update: BYE is no longer on this tour, Megan Nicole has been added and will take their place as opener.

We love Nada Surf, but after their 2012’s The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy, the band took a lengthy break. It’s not that the band was inactive, in fact, we caught singer Matthew Caws with Juliana Hatfield with in their group Minor Alps in November 2013.

Nada Surf is back together, now with their eighth studio album You Know Who You Are on one of our favorite labels Barsuk Records. I’m pretty excited to learn that two songs on the new record were co-written by Dan Wilson of the local favorite Semisonic!

Good Old War will open. We previously caught GOW last Rocktober 2015 and really liked them: “There were plenty of fan favorite songs on their set, fans loved hearing "Better Weather" (from their 2012 album Come Back As Rain), but with a nice nod to Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It" snippet at the end of the song.”

Minor Alps, otherwise known as Juliana Hatfield and Matthew Caws (of Nada Surf) just released their debut album, Get There via Barsuk Records. …

Juliana Hatfield (Blake Babies, Juliana Hatfield Three) and Matthew Caws (Nada Surf) are in a new music project called Minor Alps. The pair is currently on their first-ever tour in support of their album, Get There, out now on Barsuk Records.

SYLVAN ESSO

Usually the Cedar is very good about starting shows on time, but because Sylvan Esso (a duo of vocalist Amelia Meath and beats maker Nick Sanborn) only prepared for a thirty-five minute set, their performance was pushed back fifteen minutes so there will be little downtime until Minor Alps take the stage. This was
Sylvan Esso first gig as Minor Alps opener, and they sound more like The Blow than Mountain Man (who Meath harmonize as one of three singers).

Sylvan Esso was pretty stoked to be playing with Minor Alps, having mentioned it a few times on stage. Although the band is fairly new, they did an old song that they claimed was "first time the track is played in a while" called "Modern Wolf". By this time Meath took off her "smelly" sweater to rock the mic.

For the finale, they dedicated "Play it Right" (their latest 12" single with a-side "Hey Mami") to Becky.

Personally, if they had billed the show as "Juliana Hatfield and Matthew Caws (from Nada Surf)", that there will be more interests, but then again I suppose they wanted their show to be a Minor Alps show. If you look over the setlist, he majority of their set consisted of tracks from their album Get There ("If I Wanted Trouble", "Far From The Roses", "Buried Plans", "Wish You Were Upstairs", "Maxon", "Lonely Low", "Waiting For You", "I Don't Know What To Do With My Hands", and "Away Again").

Making out the rest of their set were Nada Surf and Juliana Hatfield songs, who alternate singing duties on their respective songs (although Caws started and sang on the majority of "Candy Wrappers", which he said was his favorite Hatfield song).

Juliana Hatfield

After the Blake Babies (Juliana Hatfield's first band) song "Out There" was played someone in the audience called out for her to play "My Sister". "Will you ever play 'My Sister' again?" they questioned Hatfield. The unexpected question caused Hatfield to stumble with her answer, "I don't think ... (pauses). Not in this ... season."

Highlight from their banter during the inevitable guitar tuning was Caws calling out all the various Minneapolis venues they've played at, 7th Street, Fine Line, 400 Bar (no longer around), The Quest (no longer around). When someone shouted, "Triple Rock", Caws replied, "We've never played there, but that sounds awesome!" One thing was for sure, Caws can now add The Cedar to his resume.

Minor Alps (Juliana Hatfield and Matthew Caws) are currently on tour in support of Get There, out now on Barsuk Records. The duo plays Chicago tonight.

Wednesday, 04 April 2012

NOTE: The entire post was composed and created using Blogsy on the iPad.

W♥M on iPad..

I have been searching for an app like this, because the iPhone TypePad application needs a lot of work. One of the main thing I need the application to do is to insert images, along with my text, and there just wasn't a way for you to do this via iOS. Unfortunately, TypePad currently does not offer iOS Safari support (this is terribly frustrating for mobile bloggers).

Unless you know the name (Blogsy), it's hard to find this application in the iTunes store. Searching for "TypePad" or Blog Editor doesn't exactly return Blogsy. There isn't a demo version, so I had to pay $5 to basically test out the application.

I'll admit that I haven't played around with it enough, but one thing I wasn't sure about is how do you save things in draft? I understand that you can save it to TypePad in draft mode, but I want to save it in draft locally on the iPad. Then it turns out that it was automatically saving it locally when I accidentally clicked on the "+" icon and panicked because I thought I had deleted my entry.

The other thing I didn't care for is the way they implement inserting images. You have to "upload" it to your TypePad image icon and then you can insert it into your article. That's a minor complaint, it's just not obvious to me. Even accessing your photo gallery is a pain because you have to allow the application to access location services. Since I automatically disable location, I had to go into my settings to allow this application access.

Some improvements I wish Blogsy had:

(1) Autocorrect and dictionary/spellcheck. iOS offer access to its dictionary throughout its system... yet it sometime works and sometime it doesn't work (this is evident when you flip back and forth to HTML).

(2) A better image inserting system. I've used application that has "insert" and then you just select images from your gallery and voila, it's done.

(3) Remove certain icons from the dock (could not figure out how to remove these icons).

(4) Once you insert an image, moving it around is not obvious. I had to delete it and then re-insert the image at a different location. I'm sure there is a way to move it around, but I just couldn't figure it out.

(5) Allow better HTML editing option. I tried to add some CSS style to the image (adding a 1 pixel border), but Blogsy just stripped it out.

(6) Changing the post date to a future date doesn't work - it will publish your article anyway.

My last mo-blogging misadventure was last year in Canada, so I can tell you it was a lot of work to get around the restriction. Compared to working with Blogsy, it's definitely a lot easier. I am looking forward to a future articles via my iPad.

Speaking of numbers: song of the show is 1,2,3's "Just Like Heaven (Is Gone)", from their album New Heaven.

BONUS: Brooklyn Vegan.

ABOUT THE VOICE
The competition heats up as the top twenty-four artists from Teams Adam, Blake, CeeLo and Christina get set to compete for America’s votes as the live performance phase kicks off Mondays beginning April 2 (8-10 p.m. ET) followed by an hour-long live results show on Tuesdays beginning April 3 (9-10 p.m. ET). The live shows will culminate in a two-hour season finale on Tuesday, May 8 (8-10 p.m. ET)

ABOUT SMASH13 tracks from SMASH will be available as an album, available everywhere on May 1st. The album will feature stars Katharine McPhee, Megan Hilty, and various cast members performing the original Broadway-type music for "the musical-within-a-musical" show.

Nada Surf is one of the few bands that we have covered since the start of W♥M. We've always liked them…

Nada Surf played an early Saturday show at First Avenue today, March 31st.

An Horse

Opening up for them was An Horse, a band out of Brisbane, Australia. I've been wanting to see them since 2009, so I was more than happy to finally catch them here. What can I say? I love them and their charming accents.

Since opener bands rarely have setlist, I tried and remember what songs they played. I'm pretty sure they played these: "Postcards", "Dress Sharply", "Brain On A Table", "Little Little Little", and they ended their set with "Shoes Watch". Very happy to see them, they are a good little duo.

As for Nada Surf, as I have previously mentioned, they are one of our favorite bands. I was surprise to see how tight the band was, you can tell they've been doing live shows for a long time. On tour with them was one of the guys from Calexico and the guitarist from Guided by Voices (both bands Nada Surf frontsman Matthew Caws said he's admired).

The band was so humble and happy to be playing First Ave. Caws said that the band had to pay their dues, starting off at First Ave's closet 7th Street. They were pleased at the large turnout; it's certainly a long way from playing to a handful of fans.

If you look at the setlist, they did the same set from their Nebraska show. Even the encores are listed ("Inside of Love", "Always Love" and "Blankest"). "Blankest" is the best, they had everyone sing "F***K YEAH!" and it was pretty thunderous whenever the song called for it.

I also wanted to mention that this was the first time I heard songs from their latest album, The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy, live, and I have to say: they're quite good. They sound like very good energetic pop songs.

Nada Surf's album The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy is out now via Barsuk Records. Go check them live, and show up early for An Horse.

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

The Mynabirds recently announced their Record Store Day release of "Generals" on 7", flipside is a non-album track, "Fallen Doves". The special 7" is available in five different paint colors (all hand-spray painted and numbered by band leader Laura Burhenn) and limited to 1,000 copies on black vinyl. The song, "Generals", is the title track from their June 5th album.

The GENERALS album is described as both a protest and concept album. In conjunction with the album, Burhenn has launched portrait project called The New Revolutionists. I looked around the website, it looks like they're portraits of American women who are active on political issues; women making a difference.

They are playing in Minneapolis tomorrow, with Big Harp, and ending their tour in Omaha, Nebraska on Friday. You can grab "Generals" song for free.

Didn't I tell you that Cursive is going to sell out their show at the 400 Bar in February? I have been told that the show on March 23rd (Friday) is sold-out. If you're a hardcore fan, I suggest showing up and being the first 10 or 20 in line because from experience, I know they reserve a few tickets at the door. I also know from experience that it's one ticket per person, which means you can't buy two or three tickets for a friend in waiting.

So if you show up early, one of the two opening bands is called Conduits.

Conduits' self-titled LP just came out Tuesday (March 20th) via Team Love, and the description I have is that the band is a bit shoegaze and draws inspiration from Jason Spaceman (Spiritualized), Beth Gibbons (Portishead) and Slowdive. You can probably throw in Mazzy Star and Blonde Redhead. Notice all those links? That's because we like those bands.

Conduits kick off their tour with Cursive and Cymbals Eat Guitars tomorrow:

Nada Surf is one of the few bands that we have covered since the start of W♥M. We've always liked them, and if you were lucky enough to be at SXSW this year, they played a few shows down there.

They are stopping in Minneapolis on March 31st at First Ave. You know that Saturday's First Ave shows ends around 10:30, or so, because of the nightclub that happens afterward. A staff at First Ave tried to make me stay because she thinks I'd get a kick out of seeing some of the clienteles. Maybe one day, I'll stay in after a show… just not March 31st because of Fanfarlo coming to town.

The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy is Nada Surf's first album in almost four years. Their last album, Lucky, which we reviewed, was in 2008. Reading about making of this new record, it sounded like it was tough, because their home recording studio in Brooklyn wasn't soundproof. According to singer/guitarist Matthew Caws, "We couldn't do vocals late at night, because the music from the bar downstairs would come through the floor."

When it's all said and done, Caws admitted that making The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy was a whole lot of fun. And they want to share that fun and excitement with you on their tour - see below.

Lovedrug's "Wild Blood" video came on MTV Buzzworthy last week, calling the song "the perfect soundtrack for your next road trip".
You can watch it on youtube.com.
The song is the title track from their Wild Blood album that came out in early March.

I'm pretty certain that they'll be doing songs from that album on their upcoming tour. They are stopping in at the Cause (previously known as The Sauce) in Minneapolis on April 1st. If you've ever been to a show at this place, it's a very, very tiny little place. I believe it's even smaller than 7th Street Entry, which everyone will agree that 7th Street is tiny. Once The Cause gets to a certain level, the door person will turn you away because of fire hazard safety codes, so I suggest if you really want to see them - show up early.

Nada Surf at Waterloo. We are in line for the Third Man Records truck. We can hear some Nada Surf. Sounding good. Heard them at Mellow Johnny's acoustic on Thursday as well. Bike ride earlier today weather has been great. Need a shower and then back to music

AOL is not working so here hoes an update for day. We saw Ian McLagan from the faces at the Yard Dog Party. It's an art shop with space in back for bands and parties. He doesn't really have a voice, but for 66 years he sings his heart out with a joy that so many others miss. Saw a couple no name bands as well. Not worth any more mention than that.

Now we are sitting outside the LBJ museum on a beautiful night waiting for Mumford and Sons. There must be 10,000 people inside.

Overall really good shows and they have been able to make the jump from small to large crowds in a short period of time. I'd seen them once before when they were third on the bill at the 400 Bar with Laura Marling.

They brought on a marching band from the local high school at one point. It was quite the scene with at least 40 people jumping down on the stage....

New material sounds great (no info on when it's coming out)....

No picture because sitting behind a fence didn't work well...

Early this afternoon, we tried to get into multiple day parties and had no luck, so we eat BBQ sitting on a curb and then went to Flatstock, a poster show.

Edward Sharpe is finishing up and ended with "Home", which gets a lot of airplay in Minneapolis.

At first listen, Nada Surf’s fifth album , Lucky, which is to be released in the United States on February 5, 2008, on Barsuk Records, sounds like an easy –going great bunch of harmonious indie songs.When you really listen and focus on the lyrics though, you hear that each song tellsa story of something deep and honest, filled with images of restlessness and conflicting desires, longing, mortality, renewal, hope, excitement of parenthood, family history, and the elusiveness of love.What makes this album so desirable beyond the lyrics is the blend of uplifting music complimenting singer/guitarist Matthew Caws emotional voice which brings these songs together as purely blissful.The honesty in his voice makes you really feel for the stories being sung, while bassistDaniel Lorca and drummer Ira Elliotadd in the essentials that carry these songs and make them sound so alive and beautiful. No wonder these guys have been together for thirteen years strong.

"I tend to be pretty hopeful about things further in the future, but full of anxiety about the next eight hours…I think I'm manic depressive without the mania. Yet I'm ready to be cheerful at the drop of a reason. I’m always looking for rapture in music." Caws jokes.

I can tell this album was really well produced. It just has that great sound quality to it.Nada Surf co-produced and John Goodmanson (Death Cab For Cutie, Sleater Kinney, Blonde Redhead) did an amazing job producing, mixing, and engineering this masterpiece.

According to their MySpace page, The first song on the album, See These Bones, was inspired by a visit Caws made a few years back to the Crypt of the Capuchin Monks in Rome, who created a macabre but stirring environmental sculpture from the bones of their departed brethren. Caws says, “It’s a chilling place. Seeing all those old bones up close really drives home that this is it – and you better make the most of your life. Ultimately, it’s uplifting. I left there in a bizarrely good mood.”Joining them on this song is Ben Gibbard from Death Cab For Cutie, and Harvey Danger’s Sam Nelson.

A few other guests on the album includeEnglish singer-pianist Ed Harcourt, on “Weightless” and “Beautiful Beat”, which are two really great songs with strong lyrics and upbeat tunes, and John Roderick, on “Ice on the Wing”. – which references Caws’ family lore: his grandfather’s adventures as a fighter pilot and an ambulance driver in two world wars and his father’s rearing in (and escape/excommunication from) a British religious cult.

One of the other really catchy songs inspired from thebeginnings of a long awaited romance , “I Like What You Say”uses clever lyrics-

“They say if you’re not lonely being alone

Boy there is something wrong”

Also from MySpace - “The Fox” melds the personal and the political, thedelusions in a relationship mirroring lies from the government. The image in the chorus – “On the grass at Beachy Head/On the cliff to which you’ve been led” – almost pilfers the scene in the Who’s Quadrophenia when protagonist Jimmy launches his scooter off the enormous grassy cliff on the Southern English coast: Caws says “We visited Beachy Head when I was a kid and I remember standing on the slope and sensing that if I took two or three more steps down the soft grass, I would just tumble off. I remember feeling like I was standing right next to death.”

Nada Surf - I Like What You Say Video

Two songs on Lucky reminded me of nostalgic 60’s and 70’s folk songs , very much Beatlesqueas well.The closer, “The Film Did Not Go ‘Round” , written by indie singer Greg Peterson,is haunting of lost love and spooky enough reminds me of The Beatles “Yesterday”.

Nada Surf is going to be on tour to coincide with the release of Lucky.